Award will help student filmmaker complete final film project
A. Sue Weisler
Lindsay Berkebile, third-year film and animation major and inaugural winner of X-Factor Filmmakers Award
Lindsay Berkebile is writing her thesis film script about a baker who lives in a make-believe world and creates fantastical cakes.
Berkebile’s script will come to life on screen thanks in part to supplemental funding from the X-Factor Filmmakers Award. Berkebile, a third-year film and animation major, is the award’s inaugural recipient. Actress Pat Carroll presented the award to Berkebile at a May 14 ceremony as part of the Rochester High Falls International Film Festival.
“When I found out I won, I was in shock,” says Berkebile. “I just checked my bank account and was stressing about how I was going to pay for the making of my thesis film. This will help a great deal.”
Berkebile’s thesis film will be live action using stop-motion animation and pixilation effects.
One of Berkebile’s fellow students, fourth-year film and animation major Lauren Tracy, created the X-Factor Filmmakers Award Fund along with her father, Rick Tracy, a Boston-area graphic designer. The father-daughter team launched the X-Factor Filmmakers Web site, to sell T-shirts created especially for the award fund.
“This only marks the beginning of the X-Factor Filmmakers Award,” says Lauren Tracy. “Congratulations to Lindsay for being the first recipient of this award. I know Lindsay will put the funds to good use and I look forward to seeing her completed film.”
Lauren Tracy created the fund to help young women like Berkebile who have tremendous talent, but not the financial resources to make headway in the film industry.
The sale of each shirt combined with monies from supporters of the Rochester High Falls International Film Festival yielded a total award of $1,800.
“We were pleased to see great work from all the award applicants,” says Catherine Wyler, Rochester High Falls International Film Festival artistic director. “Lindsay’s goals and artistry though really stood out. We’re pleased to work with the X-Factor Filmmakers Fund in helping to supplement Lindsay’s thesis project. Lindsay is at the beginning of a very promising career.”
Topics
Recommended News
-
November 22, 2024
![a group of six students and adults stand in front of a sign bearing logos from R I T and other companies.]()
RIT expands research on circular economy in Southeast Asia with new funding boost
A $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of State will continue the work led by professors Clyde Hull and Eric Williams with entrepreneurships based on circular economy principles in member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
-
November 21, 2024
![Various people put their hands together in a circle.]()
Americans agree more than they might think − not knowing this jeopardizes the nation’s shared values
An essay written by Lawrence Torcello, associate professor in the Department of Philosophy, published by The Conversation.
-
November 21, 2024
![an illustrated image of a pixelated face appears next to the words real or fake.]()
Detecting digital deception
Today, artificial intelligence is being used to manipulate media. At RIT, a team of student and faculty researchers is leading the charge to help journalists and intelligence analysts figure out what is real and what is fake. Their work has more than $2 million in funding from the National Science Foundation and Knight Foundation.
-
November 21, 2024
![two men sit at a table looking at a laptop. A third man leans over the table to look at the laptops screen.]()
In and out of Africa
Africa is rich in natural resources and contains one of the most diverse ecosystems across the globe. The Sahara Desert itself is larger than the continental United States. With all the unique landscapes, wildlife, and growing urban areas, more than 30 RIT faculty have recognized the importance of traveling to the continent, all backed by RIT Global.
